经济学人42:一桩油气管道交易抓住了契机

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　　商业

　　Energy Transfer bids for Sunoco

　　ETP竞购Sunoco

　　Put that in your pipe

　　纳入油管中

　　A pipeline¹ deal to exploit America's fast-changing energy landscape

　　美国能源局势快速多变，一桩油气管道交易抓住了契机

　　NODDING donkeys, offshore² platforms, refineries³ and filling stations are the bits of the oil industry you can see. A vast and largely invisible network of underground pipes joins them all together. It is worth a lot, which is why Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) said it would pay $5.3 billion for Sunoco on April 30th. It hopes to pull together two networks and shift more of America's booming oil and gas output.

　　抽油机，海上钻井平台，炼油厂还有加油站，你看见的这些只是石油工业的冰山一角。把它们连在一起的是一个庞大且几乎隐形的地下管网。它价值不菲，正因如此 ETP 公司于4月30日表示，愿意出价53亿美元收购 Sunoco 公司。美国国内的石油和天然气产量正快速增长，ETP 希望通过合并两家公司的管网，以输送更多油气产品。

　　ETP is ambitious. Last year its parent company, Energy Transfer Equity⁴, agreed to buy Southern Union and its gas-pipeline network for $5.7 billion.The latest deal will make ETP the country's second-biggest pipeline firm, behind Kinder Morgan, after the latter's merger⁵ with El Paso is concluded later this year.

　　ETP 公司踌躇满志。去年其母公司 ETE 同意出价57亿美元，收购 Southern Union 公司及其天然气管网。最新的收购将使ETP成为全美第二大油气管道公司。Kinder Morgan 公司并购 El Paso 之后排名第一，其交易今年晚些时候完成。

　　Sunoco comes with storage facilities, 4,900 filling stations and the remains⁶ of a refining business that it is trying to spin off in a joint⁷ venture with Carlyle, a private-equity firm. But the pipelines⁸ are the main attraction. ETP currently operates 17,500 miles (28,160km) of the arteries⁹ that transport gas and natural-gas liquids such as propane and butane. Adding Sunoco's 6,000 miles, built to carry crude oil and refined products, will reduce ETP's reliance on gas. After the deal, 30% of its revenues will come from oil.

　　收购带来了 Sunoco 公司的储油设施、4900个加油站以及一家炼油厂的剩余资产。Sunoco 打算把这些剩余资产剥离出来投入一家合资公司，该合资公司由ETP和私募股权公司Carlyle共同投资。但最诱人的部分是油气管道。ETP目前运营的油气管道干线达17500英里（约28160公里）。这些干线用于输送天然气以及丙烷、丁烷等液化天然气。加上 Sunoco 运输原油和精炼产品的6000英里管道，ETP对天然气输送业务的依赖程度将降低。交易完成后，ETP 30％的收入将来自石油输送业务。

　　This is important. In a few years shale¹⁰ gas's share of America's total gas output has gone from almost nothing to around a fifth. It will account for much more in the years to come. This changes the logistics of energy delivery, says Ronald J. Barone of UBS, a bank. Shale gas is much more widely distributed than the conventional sort. It is also more scattered¹¹ than the ports through which imported gas arrives.

　　这一点意义重大。近年来，在美国天然气总产量中，页岩气的比例几乎从零上升至五分之一。今后几年，这一比例将进一步提高。瑞士联合银行的 Ronald J. Barone 认为，能源运输的物流方式由此改变。与传统天然气相比，页岩气的分布更广泛。与进口天然气的港口位置相比，页岩气的分布也更普遍。

　　The more shale gas America uses, the more local the energy business becomes. Deliveries from gas basins in the south-west to the markets of the heavily populated Atlantic seaboard in the north-east are dwindling¹². The development of the Marcellus shale is displacing long-distance supplies with gas from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

　　页岩气用得越多，美国的能源业务就越趋本地化。从西南天然气盆地到东北严重污染的大西洋沿岸，天然气输送量正在缩减。Marcellus 页岩气的开发利用开始取代宾夕法尼亚、俄亥俄以及西弗吉尼亚的远距离天然气供应。

　　Transporting gas still brings big and stable revenues. But diversifying¹³ into oil makes sense too. America's oil pipelines are largely unfettered by the rigid¹⁴ regulations that govern gas-pipeline tariffs¹⁵. So transporting gloopy oil is far more profitable than shifting lighter-than-air gas.

　　天然气运输带来的收入仍然丰厚，而且稳定。但业务扩展到输油领域也很有意义。在美国，输气管道要缴纳的关税被法规严格规定，而输油管道几乎没有这种束缚。因此，与输送比空气还轻的天然气相比，输送粘稠的石油收益要高得多。

　　And the oil business is looking peachy. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate fetches around $100, even as gas prices recently hit a ten-year low. This has encouraged gas producers to scurry¹⁶ after oil in liquid-rich shale beds such as the Bakken in North Dakota. To do this, they use the same rigs and techniques, such as fracking and horizontal drilling, as they use for gas. Within a few years the Bakken and other shale beds could be producing up to 3m barrels of oil a day, reckon optimists¹⁷. That is around a third of current imports.

　　原油业务看起来也相当不错。尽管最近天然气的价格跌至十年来的低点，每桶WTI 原油价格仍在100美元上下徘徊。受此刺激，天然气生产商急忙去含油丰富的页岩层里寻找石油，如北达科他的贝根页岩层。他们用同样的钻井和技术，如水力压裂和水平钻井去找油。乐观估计，几年内贝根及其他页岩层的产能将升至日产三百万桶原油。这相当于目前原油进口量的三分之一。

　　Owning the pipes that make all this possible should be lucrative¹⁸. America has long failed to invest in pipes, since investors¹⁹ assumed that the country would continue to rely on imports. So there is too little capacity in many places where it is now needed. And American buyers are clamouring for more oil from Canada, which will also need pipes. Targets like Sunoco are rare. ETP was wise to swoop²⁰ on it.

　　拥有油气管道使所有这些想法成为可能，并有利可图。由于投资者认为美国将持续依赖进口石油，长期以来都未在油气管道上进行投资。因此许多地方几乎没有油气输送能力，而现在需要管道。美国买家也在呼吁增加加拿大石油的进口量，这同样也需要管道。Sunoco 这种收购对象少之又少，ETP一举拿下可谓明智。

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